The Pulpit Commentary — Job — Section 570

12; Mark x. 28). The Holy Spirit also proceeds in the same gradual fashion ln th11 work of illuminating darkened minds. 5. Simplicity. Aiming at the good of those "·ho hee.r, God e.lways teaches in the plainest and directest manner possible, speaking so cle11.rly, distinctly, and intelligibly, that he requires, as with Adam (Gen. iii. 9) and with Noah (Gen. vi. 13), with Abimelech (Gen. xx. 3) and with Laban (Gen. xxxi. 24), to spe11,k only once; with such earnestness and eagerness that he often speaks twice, e.s he did with Abraham (Gen. xxii.11), and e.s Christ did with Saul (Acts ix. 4); yea, "·itb a patiPnce and geDfleness so admirable that he even condescends to speak thrice, as he did with Samuel (1 Sam. iii. 10). 6. Desirability. The teaching God gives is on subjects which it most behoves man to know, in particular on that which maketh wise unto salvation-the Being, charactl>r, and purpose of God; the original dig~ity, present condition, and future dest~y of man; the nature, guilt, and penalty ol sm; the Person, offices, and work of Christ; the source, means, and end of salvation; tlie law of life and the rule of duty; the way to die and the path to glory everlasting. 7. Effici,er,cy. Desirable and complete as such a programme of instruction ie, no one can learn it by his own unaided powers (1 Cor. ii. 14). But God can guide his people into the underst.anding of it in all its fulness (Ps. xxv. 9). III. lllfllACULATE IN HL~ BOLTh"ESS. "Who can say, Thou hast wrought iniquity?" (ver. 23). 1. Holiness inseparablefrom tM idea of God. A Being who can be charged with iniquity cannot possibly be Divine. Hence God can, in no sense or degree, be the Author of sin. 2. Men prone to connect sin with God. The heathen do so when they worship deities like themselves-" gods fierce, rapacious, cruel, and unjust." Philo- sophers do so when they hold God responsible for everything that exists. Even good people do so when they charge God with inequality or injustice in bis ways. 3. God's holineSB laryily insisted on in Scripture. The inveterate tendency of the fallen heart to forget the Divine purity demands that this be frequently held up for contemplation (Exod. xv. 11 ; Deut. xxxii. 4; 1 Sam. ii. 2; eh. iv. 17; xxxiv. 10; Ps. xcii.15 ; cxi. 9; Isa. !vii. 15; Rev. iv. 8). IV. UNSEABOBABLE IN BIS BEING. "Behold, God is great, and we know him not" (ver. 26). 1. We know him not directly. "No man bath seen God at any time," said Christ (John L 18); with which agrees God's word to Moses (Exod. xxxiii. 20), and John's word to Christians (1 John iv. 12). God reveals himself to man in creation (Ps. xix. 1; Rom. L 20), in providence (eh. ix. 11, sqq.), in Christ (John xiv. 9; 2 Cor. iv. 6; CoL i. 15), through the Spirit (Matt. x:i. 27). 2. We know him not com- pld,ily. It u; certain that the infinite God will never be entirely comprehended by a finite crenture. But of even such a measure and degree of knowledge as is possible to man, it is likewise true that we have not reached the full measure. "Now we know in pa.rt" (1 Cor. xiii. 12). Hereafter all that can be known of God by finite creatures will be re&lized. 3 We know him ,wt cl,early. Even what we do apprehend of the Divine Being is involved in much obscurity. "Now we eee through a glass darkly" (1 Cor. xiii. 12). Hereafter his serva.ntii shall behold his face with open vision (Rev. xxii. 4), Yet for all that, notwithstanding these limitations: 4. We k,ww him not imaginarily, 1,u,t really. That is, our knowledge of the Divine Being, though neither direct, nor adequate, nor perfectly clear, is real, accurate, and reliable so far as it goes. V. ETERNAL IN BIB EXISTENCE. "Neither can the number of his years he searched out " (ver. 26). The languai!e which ascribes years to God is, of course, anthropo- morpl,ic (Ps. ell. 24). Both Elihu and the Hebrew bard intend to represent God as " without beginning of days or end of years,n as existing "from everlasting to ever- lasting," as ex'llted.high above all the permutations and vicissitudes of created life, and therefore as removed completely beyonrl the sphere of man's judgment or criticism. VI. WONDERFUL m BIB wonKING. To this thought Elihu recurs in detail in the eru,uing chapter (vid,e homiletics). In the mean time he alludes to certain natural phenomena as indicative of God's excellent power in working. 1. Rain. "For he maketh small [literally, 'he draweth up,' sc. by evaporation] the small drops of water; after which "they pour down rain [or, 'as rain'], according to the vapour thereof," or "fur this mist" (Cook), or "in connection with its mist" (Delitzsch). It is not the nuderstar:.ding of how rain is formed that constitutes either the wonder or the difficulty of Lhe phenomer:.on ; it is the making of rain, the institution and IDJ1.intenance of those =terial laws llnd forces whlch produce rain. It u; here that Divine power is required  . Oll, XXXVI, 1-88.J THE BoOK OF JOB. 586